Segment-routing (SR) technology greatly simplifies network operations and is conducive to a Software-Defined Networking paradigm. Segment Routing may be utilized with both Multi-Protocol Label Switching (SR-MPLS) and Internet Protocol version 6 (SRv6) data-planes. Built-in Performance Measurement (PM) is one of the essential requirements for a successful implementation of this technology.
Segment Routing policies are used to steer traffic through a specific, user-defined path using one or more Segment Identifier (SID) list for Traffic Engineering (TE). In SR network, end-to-end performance delay on SR Policies must be closely measured and monitored in order to ensure that the provisions of Service Level Agreements (SLAs) are met. Service providers are expected to detect and correct delay bound violations for the services in sub-second interval for certain applications such as tele-medicine, on-line gaming, stock market trading and many mission critical applications. In the Segment Routing context, the provision of end-to-end low latency services with rapid performance degradation detection becomes an essential service requirement, especially when considering that Segment Routing based network Slicing may serve as a core technology for implementing 5G ready networks.